Is flexibility the key to driving up car share?

DriveNow users can choose from the MINI Countryman, BMW 1 series and the electric BMW i3

DriveNow users can choose from the MINI Countryman, BMW 1 series and the electric BMW i3

Joseph Seal-Driver: “Flexible car share has an important part to play in the sustainable transport mix of a city.”

Joseph Seal-Driver: “Flexible car share has an important part to play in the sustainable transport mix of a city.”

A new method of car sharing is offering users greater convenience, believes DriveNow’s Joseph Seal-Driver. He tells Deniz Huseyin why he thinks this approach will help ease congestion and suppress car ownership

The traditional car club model is being challenged – there’s a new operator on the block that is allowing users to pick up and drop off a vehicle in any on-street parking space. This differs from the more established method where vehicles can only be parked in dedicated car club bays.

Car sharing firm DriveNow has signed partnerships with Islington, Hackney, Haringey and Waltham Forest, which means that cars can be left in any pay & display or resident bay across the four neighbouring boroughs.

DriveNow is a joint car sharing venture between car rental firm Sixt and BMWi Ventures, which has formed partnerships with start-ups to develop “mobility services” (see panel below).  

Find, swipe and go

The DriveNow concept is straightforward enough; users check their DriveNow smartphone app to find the nearest available car, swipe their customer card on the windscreen to activate the vehicle, after which they are ready to set off. If their destination is within the four-borough zone, users can end the transaction in any legal on-street space. Outside the zone users can switch to the lower-cost ‘park’ mode. 

Launching flexible car share is inexpensive for local authorities, says Joseph Seal-Driver, director of DriveNow UK. “With traditional car clubs you have to consult on where the dedicated bays should go and then you have to put in lines, signs and Traffic Regulation Orders. None of this is necessary with flexible car sharing.

Councils can generate revenue from the parking permits they sell to DriveNow. In the case of Hackney, this is an ‘All Areas Free Floating’ parking permit, which costs £1,200 a year for each petrol vehicles and £600 for each electric vehicle. A Hackney council spokesman explains: “The scheme has generated additional revenue that is being invested directly back into the management and monitoring of car clubs in the borough, and is being used to fund an officer to study the impacts of the scheme. At the moment the additional revenue is ring-fenced to be spent on the monitoring and management of the scheme and other car sharing activities in the borough.”

Although there may be monetary benefits, Seal-Driver insists the chief reason the four London boroughs signed partnerships with DriveNow was to offer residents a sustainable transport option. 

Types of users

There are two main types of users, Seal-Driver says. “There are those who are aspirational, perhaps couples without kids, who can afford to buy a car but choose not do. Instead, they use a DriveNow car when they need one.

“The other user group is made up of families looking to downsize the number of cars or perhaps reduce it to zero.”

User surveys have revealed that DriveNow cars are not commonly used for commuting, says Seal-Driver. “They are used for leisure activities, to transport heavy items, and also for trips outside of London.”

Seal-Driver believes DriveNow has a key part to play in encouraging sustainable transport. “The population is rising, so demand for road space is increasing. Without car sharing and flexible car share methods it will get more difficult.”

Although some people may be prepared to relinquish their cars they still want access to one, says Seal-Driver. “I am an avid cyclist myself, but I think it’s impractical to suggest that the car is not going to be a part of life in the mid to long-term. There are times when we need a car, for example when moving house, transporting a heavy object or picking up elderly parents.”

Those who belong to car clubs are more inclined to drive efficiently to keep their costs down, he says. “Because people are paying by the minute they try and travel at off-peak times. You tend to be more smart – you don’t want to be stuck in traffic.”

The problem with car2go

Having an adequate fleet of vehicles across a contiguous area is the key to why DriveNow is effective, believes Seal-Driver. “If you only had cars operating within a small zone it wouldn’t be very useful.”

He believes that this was one of the reasons why car2go withdrew from the UK market last year. At that time the point-to-point scheme, owned by Daimler, said its decision was due to the UK’s “strong culture and tradition of private vehicle ownership”.  

But Seal-Driver challenges this: “I don’t agree that people are too attached to their cars – what’s important is that the service you offer them is useful and scalable. If it’s not, people won’t use it.”

DriveNow is a part of the burgeoning sharing economy, says Seal-Driver. He believes that his business can work alongside the likes of the car-booking app Uber. “There are various ways that we compete with Uber and ways in which we complement each other.”

DriveNow offers users greater freedom than Uber, says Seal-Driver. “With DriveNow you are in control – you are driving yourself, but with Uber you’re having to deal with someone else.”

Also, DriveNow is cheaper to use than Uber, says Seal-Driver, pointing out that a 30-minute journey covering 8.7 miles costs £11.70 with DriveNow against £16.89 with Uber.

Last month DriveNow announced it had registered its 500,000th customer across the 10 global cities in which it operates (see panel below). The number of customers has doubled in the past 18 months, it reports. In the UK awareness of the flexible car share concept is growing, but more needs to be done, admits Seal-Driver. 

“It’s early days and understanding of this product is low at the moment. We are offering a service that makes life easier for people – our cars are new and fitted with satnav, self-parking and digital radio. The in-car phone has a direct line to the DriveNow call centre. All cards have petrol or charging cards in them. DriveNow pays for fuel and gives you 20 minutes free driving as a ‘thank you’. All of this is new to car sharing.”

Seal-Driver said he is seeking to measure “un-met demand” – cases where people would use a car if one was available near them. 

“We are seeking that magic formula where no one should need to walk for more than five minutes to get to one of our cars.”

Joseph Seal-Driver will be speaking at the Intelligent City Mobility conference at KIA Oval on 12 November 

BMW's Mobility Vision

DriveNow is part owned by BMW i Ventures, the venture capital arm of BMW, which has invested in a range of technologies and start-ups in a bid to offer complementary in-car ‘mobility services’. Partners include JustPark, ParkNow, MyCityWay and ChargePoint.